X
by BerraSmerra
Summary: <html><head></head>Adrianna has just dug herself a hole...and now she has to fight her way back out. The only problem is the only way out is through the people she hates. Red Arrow/Roy Harper x Red X/Thief/Adrianna Grey</html>
1. If The Shadows weren't enough

**This is a Red X story…because I feel like Red X should show up in the show, because his character would cause **_**soooo**_** much freaking tension to the group. And, I always had this theory that there was more than one… because it would explain the whole '**_**I'm over here now I'm over there**_**' thing he's got going for him. So yeah Adrianna is the one that gets in and gets out without much of a fuss, and she has her own self proclaimed title simply—and rightfully—called Thief because she actually doesn't hurt anyone just steals and slips away.**

**Any who on with the story!**

/**X**\

Adrianna should have seen it coming.

In fact they _all_ should have dammit! There is no excuse as to why they didn't see the shit before it hit the—gigantic, metaphorical—fan. They were not _stupid_ or_ impulsive_, so why is it that they made the stupid mistake of trusting the _Shadows_? The people they steered clear of on days they didn't feel like _**getting killed**_? Well part of it had to do with the fact that they had a deal…Now here they were being hunted down like deer and all she can think of is how when she sees the gang again how she's going to kill them all.

And contrary to what Red says and all the stunts they pull, not _all_ of them are suicidal.

Well she personally could believe that Red was just stupid enough to take what they say to heart but, not Jay, not Millie, heck even frickin' Mandy would have seen that coming. And, that's definitely saying something 'cause that boy is about as observant as a rock, a _retarded_ rock (no offense to rocks, but Mandy's about thirty times duller than them) he's not dumb, per say… he just lacks the ability to think like a normal person.

If Adrianna wasn't too busy running right now, she'd find Red and give him the elongated version of the "_I Told You So_" speech. Which would consist of her calling him every derogatory thing under the sun until someone stepped in (not very likely but, hey even dumbasses have friends). And might also consist of a few _"I Told You So"_ slaps, followed with the spiel about how he would die without the almighty Anna to save his sorry ass.

"_Red_," She hissed into her comm. link while running into a dark alley, "this is so _all_ your fault." She continued as she located an escape route.

"No it's not!" he whined as she swung onto a fire escape and started climbing. It took maybe two minutes to reach the top, "It's _totally_ Jay's fault!" a loud clang was heard from her earphones—_ow_—and she had to resist the urge to pull them out and stomp on them.

"Do _not_ bring me into this," Jay voice groaned out over the crackle of signals, as he puffed into the mike heavily. "I've done nothing wrong…" he paused, most likely hidden on a crowded street "_besides_ I kinda like being on the **other** side of your arguments… not in them."

She sucked in a breath—while holding back an insult—and sprinted to the next roof top weary of the people below, "En-route to destination, total time till arrival three minutes." She took another running hurdle onto the next building, slowly gaining speed until she launched over the edge.

"Status?" Millie said over the inter comm. and for a couple moments Adrianna had to pause taking in her surroundings.

"Status: clear!" Three voices chimed in unison, they waited an additional moment and Mandy joined with, "Surveillance shows you still have a tail Anna…" Mandy _would_ know, he has surveillance camera's everywhere and was surprisingly attentive when his computers—his babies—were involved.

She paused to take a wary glance over her shoulder, "Do not Mandark." She huffed, "I'm all alone on this roof top."

"Just _lose them_." Mandy sighed, as Red piped up "Reached destination! I'm ready to receive orders, sir!"

She hesitated for a moment, tuning out the incessant chatter in her ear, and honing in on her surroundings. She could hear footsteps—one person or two? —and from the sound of things they were running fast. She didn't move, frozen in her spot, maybe if she stood absolutely still they would run right past her?

_Like in Jurassic Park? Not likely,_ her mind deadpanned and then chose that time to say: _it's either the black person that disappears-slash-die first, or the pretty blonde one, and the only blonde one is little nerdy Mandark_. And everyone knows that nerds live to the very end of the movie.

That thought made her jump, and thinking quickly she hid behind the nearest object big enough to hide her whole body. A crackle in her ear made her wince but she ignored it, crouching low enough to let the metal object obscure her. This had been a simple race really, they were only doing this to test speed-timing and vitals that would later be used in an actual fight or flight mode. But, of course _something _just had to go wrong_._

"I lost sight of the target." A female voice said on the other side of the air conditioning unit, Adrianna heard some steps moving across the rooftop while another voice crackled over the speaker in their ear, "Radio transmitter says that she's around here though, so keep looking." Mandark's idea of staying in touch was going to get her _killed. _Crouching slightly Adriana proceeded to slowly inch herself away from the mystery person.

"Well hello there little one~" The female voice cooed whilst her towering shadow covered the teenage girl, "Now where do you think you're going, Hm? We're gonna have a _lot_ of fun getting information out of you~" Adrianna breathes and tries get a hold on her heart "_Yeah,_ but that's only if you can catch me hag!" Adrianna says as she sprung up and bolted, simultaneously reaching into her—favorite—orange sling-bag and pulling out a grapple gun. "Mandy sever the feed!" she yelled as she launched herself into the air.

Silence was her only reply.

The grapple shot out of the barrel and caught onto a building across the street, and she gracefully landed on the other rooftop. "Mandy! Reply Moron!" she barked.

Still silence, but she didn't panic, that wouldn't do any good.

"Red? Jay? Millie? Do you read me?" she asked carefully as she zipped onto another rooftop.

As the grapple zips right back into its smooth little compartment Adrianna breaks for the next rooftop, she paused briefly to see if the lady was following her. She was, so Anna had to sever connections—really—soon or else the others would be compromised as well. She shimmied her way down a pipe to a back alley and slipped into the crowd pulling out a cell phone to make it look like she was talking to someone when she was actually on the comm. link.

"Code: Black, I have to break my signal," She huffed out while slipping past a lady with three toddlers, "Report back when everything's clear…alright?" she said lowly, the silence was getting to her so she carefully took the comm. link off and stashed it in a bike riders backpack as she strode off in the opposite direction.

_Chase that!_ She thought as she headed to the meet-up point.

With any luck she wouldn't be the only one there.

/**X**\

Adrianna had glided into a small enclosed terrace at around nine and found that it was nicely concealed from the helicopters flying above her head. She peered over the iron barrier with her binoculars, gazing down at the brightly lit buildings below. There were several police cars parked around the meet up point and Adrianna didn't want to risk going down there, mostly because of the thing that caught her eye. Over at the edge of the building sat a man shaking his head back and forth while he placed a white cloth down on the ground.

She paused for a few moments and tried to spot the others in the crowd. There was a man wearing a gigantic coat who paced around nervously, a woman who wore bright neon clothes and a couple at the far left who were either looking at her or in her general direction, she couldn't tell because they were wearing sunglasses.

Shuddering she tore her eyes away from the scene and placed all of her gear back into her bag, she couldn't stay there too long—the owners might return soon. She pulled her bag on her back and climbed all the way back to the higher levels, slowly trying to shake the worry out of herself, but finding that was too hard and let the worry settle at the bottom of her stomach. Things had gone from bad to worse in a matter of hours and she practically wanted to scream at how horrible the situation had gotten.

She pulled herself up and began to run across the rooftop; in a matter of seconds, she was pinned to the rooftop by something that she identifies as the same adhesive in her X arsenal. She struggles for a full five minutes before she hears footsteps coming from above her. She tries to gaze upward but finds that she can't, due to the glue like substance that's keeping her fixed to the ground. She starts to squirm again, only much more feverishly than before. She would try to reach for her bag if her hands weren't pressed to her sides.

She whimpers pathetically and hopes that the Shadows will go easy on her. "Please…please…" she begs pitifully to her capture, maybe if she cries a little they'll humor her…or maybe they'll get irritated and kill her… either works really. "Don't do this…."

"_Wow_, kissing up to the good guys huh… That's defiantly not what a _Red X_ would do," the person speculates, "though a Red X wouldn't be a _girl_ either…" she huffs and twists awkwardly to see Robin gazing down at her with a knowing smirk on his face and behind him are five other teens. Directly behind him stands a red haired boy who has an arrow notched on a bow, though it's pointed downwards.

"I saw her earlier running from a Shadows member, followed her here." The red one states blandly, as if this whole situation was boring and a waste of his time. "Guess she's your problem now…" he trails off putting away his arrow and bow, walking away casually "Wait! If you know something we might need it…Come back to Mt. Justice with us…Please?" he half turns towards the midget wonder, grimace clear on his features, "Forge—"

"_Well_ I'd hate to interrupt this _touching_ momen—"she silences herself for a second when both boys turn to glare at her (at least she thinks it's a glare) but regains her vigor, "—t. But… if Justice League daycare would mind untying me that would be super special _awesome_." All the teens circle her. "What did you still drowsy from nap time? Untie me!" She snarls up at them once she realizes that they're not moving. Robin scoffed at her and crouches down next to her, "Ugh, what now? Batman forget to feed his baby bird? Would you like a worm?" she continues mockingly.

"No 'cause I already caught one…" he retorts back "Oh, hohoho aren't you the _clever_ one?" she replies mockingly. She was going to continue until a flying cherry… _thing_ floats to where they're collected on the rooftop, "Oh look a pink bus! As if you weren't already ga— **Hey**!" she shouts, when the Incredible Brooding Hulk rips her up from the ground and throws her over his shoulder firemen style "Put me down! You Superman wannabe!" the boy growls menacingly at her and tightens his grip a around her waist as she struggles and kicks.

The ship lands softly on the surface of the rooftop and the hatch opens to reveal a shiny futuristic ramp that leads to the inside, and she pears stunned at the technology and its slick beautiful appearance. She may be able to hack using a flimsy computer lab computer and an iPod but this was simply mouthwatering. She may not be as into tech-y stuff like Millie or Mandark but this place was like a geek's paradise. Adrianna almost ditched the thought of escaping when she saw it.

The boulder of a boy drops her on the floor of the ship and she lands on her side with a loud 'oomph' noise, "I'm. Not. A. Sack." She grits out from the floor and as soon as she was about to complain again a weird fleshy chair emerges from the floor sitting her up right. The adhesive is still tight against her skin and it hurts to try and move her arms, but she still tries to reach in her back pocket for her pocketknife. She was just about halfway there when the chair sprouts arms and wrap around her.

She freezes for a good two seconds and thinks about tentacles and Japanese school girls, until they squeeze over her original bindings. She groans loudly catching attention from the red clad red head (who decided to come along despite his protest earlier) as he drops her bag of gadgets next to the seat that appears behind him. He seems just out of place as she is and she smirks silently, but her mouth quickly falls into a frown when he reaches down and tugs her bag closer to his feet. He catches her stare and gives her a long stern look and better secures the bag between his legs.

The ship lifts off as she finally grasps her knife, only to have it yanked from her hand by an unknown force.

"_Wha_—Hey!" she says as it floats tauntingly in front of her face before it zooms towards the Martian girl's hand. "Give it back!" the green girl shakes her head at her demands and hands the weapon over to Robin who flicks it open and holds it to the light, "Ah, a Swiss army knife. Heh specially made to cut any substance other than metal. Must have cost a lot of money~" he says airily as he closes the blade, "Adrianna William—"

"Grey." Was her simple reply, "Grey?" Robin raises an eyebrow (how she knows comes from experience,) He corrects himself, "Williams." She tries to launch herself at him only to be stopped by the chair, "Grey!" she protests after giving up, "The name is _**Grey**_! Ugh!" The boy stares at her, "…What are you like eleven?" The Boy Wonder brushes off her comment and fixes her with a stare. "Adrianna—" he starts and she gives him a long hard look, "_Grey_ we want to know why the Shadows are after you and your group."

She glowers at him from under her eyelashes, "I'm not telling you jack _shit!_" Red Arrow sighs from his position, "They want her for her superior stealth and technology expertise… in other words they want her to become their lackey." The green skinned girl turns saying "Hello M'gann! It's so obvious! Why train someone how to steal, when you got one right at your doorstep?" The girl was completely turned away from the control panel and Adrianna briefly wonders on who was flying the ship, until she remembers that this is a Martian ship and simply falls in love with it all over again.

No…Loving technology was Millie's thing, she thrived off of gadgets, got pleasure from hacking, and got a thrill off of every new piece of equipment brought through the door. It was Millie's thing. Just like pulling stunts was Red's thing, and being the calm one was Jay's. These were the things that they did—_do_…their not dead.

At least she _**hopes**_…

So lost in her thoughts, Adrianna missed the question directed at her, "—iends" she blinks away tears and looks up again quizzically, "What?" The boy in the yellow—Flash Kid or something like that—is leaning back in his chair, "I asked 'do you know where you're friends are?'" she tries to sink as far into her seat as she possibly can and mumbles about not knowing. The teens all share a glance and look back at her, the boy with gills—a new hero she's never seen before—crouches down in front of her.

She fights back tears and glares at him fiercely, she's not going to let this freaky fish guy break her hold on her gullible hope. She clenches her teeth grinding them for a few moments and snaps her eye closed, waiting to calm down as tears threaten to fall. She will not let them see her cry for real—not them, _**never**_ them. But it's almost too much, the silence around her reminds her of the silence in her ears hours earlier, the silence that almost drove her crazy.

Wait…

Wasn't she the one that called for silence? The one that cut the connection? The one that was afraid? Yes, yes she was…and now look where it got her! In a ship with six strange little Justice Leaguers strapped to a soft but utterly disturbing chair. Not only that, but she was actually caught, bound and kidnapped by said heroes. Finally the actual weight of getting caught by _heroes _settled in the pit of her stomach. These people take thieves like her to jail! Lock her up and throw away the key…would let her rot in a cell.

She realized though, that she'd rather be with them and not the Shadows, who would probably lock her in a dungeon and poke sticks at her until her will was broken, send her on assassination missions, then kill her when she became of no more use. And comparing that to simply rotting in a jail cell was like comparing a seaside paradise to hell in the summer time. There was no better place to be really than with heroes, or sidekicks…whatever.

She counts her blessings in her head and thinks she'll take her chances with the daycare services instead, and thinks hopefully that maybe their rouge! Maybe the Actual Justice League won't get involved! Maybe she's counting her eggs before they hatch…

That maybe we should just let her dwell in her self-pity a bit longer.

But only for a little bit longer.

/**X**\

**So that was my first Young Justice Story! Hope you liked it. And, remember Reviews are **_**super mega special awesome**_** love.**


	2. New Places Suck

**So starts chapter two, I just recently heard that there's gonna bee a **_**whole episode**_** dedicated to Red Arrow! Oh my god that boy is too fine, in the episode****Infiltrator my sister commented on how he looked in his new outfit she said and I quote "Hate to see him leave, but love to watch him go. Mmm that boy is fine." when asked if she liked **_**Roy**_** more than **_**Green Lantern**_** she cries "heck **_**NO**_** that man is a **_**GOD**_**." I dunno what her obsession is with him, but I think it has something to do with Ryan Reynolds…**

**Any who I'll stop babbling and let you read now.**

/**X**\

Adrianna sat silently in her seat; the fish boy had moved to a safe distance away from her when she started complaining about a headache and sat on the other side of the ship, though his chair was facing her. They were having a contest to see who would break eyesight first, and Adrianna would be damned if she did so first. The contest had started when she found that a person can take only so much of sarcasm before they break out the duck tape. The chick with the bow had put it on her and later had tried taking it off, _but_ she had just started her spiel back up, so they left it in place.

Robin and Flash—_whatever_ the heck he is—Kid, were talking to Red Arrow, who wasn't really joining the conversation. He sat between them but his eyes never left their spot on her, she became nervous as she looked in a different direction than the gill boy. It took her all of two seconds to realize her mistake.

_Wait! Oh Goddamnit, _her mind screamed as she quickly turned back to the boy, he was still staring but this time there seemed to be a funny little quirk to his head. _Maybe that's his way of laughing at me,_ she thinks while choosing to glare back at him. Megan—aka crazy looking, green skinned girl, who hit herself on the head—came floating over to her and landed lightly beside her.

"He's not laughing at you—" she starts but Adrianna is quick to interrupt with a, "mugh?" the girl looks at her worriedly then sighs looking at her mouth. "Maybe we should take it off? It's hard to communicate with her when she's like this," everyone shares a look but no one moves to help her. After several moments of silence the gagged girl trashes around in her chair, Megan sighs softly and removes the tape as gently as possible.

"Okay um… one: how did you know that I thought that and two:" she hesitates for a moment then continues "…uh thank you I guess." Megan moves slightly and Adrianna doesn't have to strain her neck to look at her now, "I have telepathy." She states calmly and Adrianna looks puzzled for a moment. She quickly recovers with a small oh, "_Well _that explains a lot…now I just have to ask…what're you looking at?" The green girl fidgets a little bit but doesn't answer, "Hello~ Earth to alien chick, you still with me?" she questions as Megan looks away as a mountain comes into view.

_It took us __**four hours**__ to get to a mountain?_, she thinks, _wow talk about __**slow~**_.

The side opens up and Adrianna finds that the sarcasm that was about to come out, dies on her lips. She stares in awe at the interior of the mountain, though on the outside she schools her face to look uninterested. _Don't worry_, a voice says in her head and she has to swivel her head around to look at the green skinned girl. _You don't have to act all tough around us,_ she smiled, _we're here to help._ Adrianna felt as if she had unwittingly made a not-enemy out of the girl and nodded respectfully to her. Might as well have someone on her side, that _didn't_ look at her like she had three heads.

They land and the seat unwraps her arms, but the bonding substance around her upper body stays put. She bites her lip and looks around at the young heroes, "Hey Kiddies little help?" she says wincing when she let the word '**kiddies**' slip, she _really_ didn't need the people protecting her hating her guts. The tall dark haired boy just glares at her, "Yeah _right_." He mocks and leaves without another word. She briefly wondered if he was still angry about the brute comment from earlier.

She fixes her gaze on the archers as the get up to leave, "No." Came the immediate reply from both of them; they suddenly stopped walking towards the exit to glower at each other. "Now now~ no fighting you two. I'd _hate_ to have to put you _**both**_ in time out." She quips; she then is under the glare of both of the mini-Green Arrows and laughs nervously to herself.

"So~ ugh _Blondie,_ what's your super hero name? _Golden Archer_?" she asks, Red Arrow tries to look serious and almost succeeds but he lets out a snort and walks away quickly, while Adrianna watches triumphantly from where she's uncomfortably standing. "See I knew he could smile! I just had to insult someone. That normally works for me you know." She says happily as she awkwardly begins down the ramp past the fuming blonde.

Flash Kid—who had zoomed right out of the aircraft—came running back into the landing bay when the blonde girl yelled, "Geez Arty what's got you're bows in a knot?" he jokes at her, "Oh Shut up!" she yells down to him walking down the platform and shoving past them. Adrianna tries to say something clever to her but was speedily interrupted, "Don't mind her she's normally like that." He says, "I think one of her arrows is permanently stuck _somewhere_ if you catch my drift." He says lowly, she hears a distant 'I heard that' before he ignores it and rambles on about nothing, while she stays silent and nods during brief moments of silence.

_This guy sure does talk __**a lot**_, she thinks.

The Fast boy reminds her of Red and worry quickly grows in her stomach; clawing at her throat until she blurts out, "Where are my friends?" she wishes she could eat the words she just uttered but finds that it entirely too late now. The boy pauses for a second, "That's something you should ask Batman 'cause I don't know." He states, her eyes widen at the name uttered, "He knows _everything_, ya know? Sometimes he just _does,_ it's really disturbing but trust me, we wouldn't be anywhere without him." She eases just a touch when she hears that and takes deep breathes, he leans over just a tad "I never caught your name…, but I want to know what you like to go by."

She has to take a moment to register what he just said but she quickly replies with, "My name's Adrianna _Grey_, but my friends call me all sorts of embarrassing names, so just call me Anna or Adri." He quickly holds out his hand, "Name's Kid Flash." She makes a gesture showing that she can't move her arms and he takes the hint lowering his arm before he throws an arm over her shoulder steering her the last couple steps, as they enter what appears to be a debriefing room.

To the side of her stand the teen heroes—and Kid Flash, who joined in as soon as they walked into the room—standing side by side while _the_ Dark Knight speaks to them. He gestures at the floating blue screen behind him; stats appear on the hologram while a miniature profile of her stands there alongside. There a video right above it showing surveillance of some of her heists and she cringes when the video of her getting shot with an arrow pops on screen. She hears a snicker but when she turns she doesn't find the culprit.

"Miss Willia—" she groans loudly cutting him off, he gives her a long hard glare that sends chills down her spine, she takes the hint and shuts up immediately. He continues "Miss _Williams_," She doesn't argue back, "Is in grave danger and while _normally_ I'd keep her with the Justice League we already have three _guests_ there." She glances at him from under her dark eyelashes. What Guests does he have?

"Isn't that a bit…_I dunno_ _**dangerous**_?" Asked Kid Flash, "I mean having three of them in the same place, seems kinda… bad." Batman turns to him to answer his question and Adrianna scoots closer to him, though he doesn't speak low enough to hide it from her. "Two of them are in critical condition and all are being heavily guarded. So there are no worries of them doing any lasting damage." She scoffs loudly automatically gaining attention from the occupants of the room.

No _Worries_? _**No worries**_? No _freaking_ worries? _Was he insane_? Of course he is! There's no way she _**couldn't**_ worry about that tidbit of information. If they couldn't do damage, then it bothered her, more so than them **not** causing trouble, though she should be happy that their _alive __**at all**_. She hyperventilated, this _**couldn't**_ be happening, none of it. Maybe it was all a messed up dream and all she had to do was wake up and she'd be back at home snuggled up next to her dog…

_Her dog_! Oh _**god**_ how _terrible_ was she? She forgets her friends _**as well as**_ her dog, dear god someone strike her where she stands. There's no way she forgot her only best friend on four legs, unless of course she was in this situation, in which she really couldn't have remembered her dog. Not when she's being kidnapped by superheroes. Wi-Fi must be scared out of his mind, all alone in their apartment. She fears that she didn't leave food out and almost drives herself insane with shame. This wasn't a dream…it was a nightmare.

Trying to force out the climbing guiltiness in her stomach she focuses on the discussion.

She shifts from side to side uncomfortably not knowing how to inject herself into the conversation, normally she'd just be rude and obnoxious to them to gain their attention, but she'd used that on the way over and Batman was standing right there. So _yeah, _she wasn't screwing her first impression with _Batman_ up, not even if she was offered a billion dollars.

"_Uh_…" she starts uneasily, looking at her feet. Batman turns to give her his full attention while the teens do the same. Talk about awkward. "I um, just thought…" she can't force it out and she blurts the first thing that comes to mind out her mouth. "_Howaremyfriends_?" She says it so fast even Kid Flash was left reeling and trying to decode her words; she sighs, she screwed up… she lost her cool.

Batman seems unfazed and answers gruffly, "Like I said: they're in critical condition." She cuts in when she thinks he's finished, "Which ones are hurt? How come you didn't find them in time? _Whohurtthem_?" The Dark Knight takes it all in stride and doesn't miss a beat, answering in order. "Desmond and Jason, they ran away from us when we were trying to help and the Shadows found them before we could finally track them down. Your other friends though, Mandark and Mellissa, were relatively cooperative…Unlike _you_ from what I've heard."

She lets out a breath and doesn't break eye contact with him, how many people could actually _hold_ eye contact with Batman without shitting their pants? Well maybe quite a few people could…but how many Villains can? Only two, her and Cat Woman, hah suck it!

"Oh~ heh you heard about that…well um you, uh _kidnapped me_!" She exclaims, almost as if she's trying to convince him that it was their fault she acted the way she did. The blonde Girl Laughs out loud at her comment, "We're **protecting** you. Don't you _know_ who the Shadows _are_? They're _not exactly_ your neighborhood watch. They _**kill**_ people; they _almost_ killed your friends." She doesn't want to take any crap from the walking talking plant so she just scoffs and turns away, arms still melded to her sides.

"Well if you're _heroes_, and you're _helping __**me**_, something should tell you that tying me up isn't gonna lower my thoughts of you." She says it while making eye contact with Kid Flash who takes the hint almost immediately and cuts her out in a blur of yellow and red. Almost immediately the green girl hit him on the back of the head. "Idiot she tricked you!" Adrianna takes a slight offense to that but doesn't say anything to defend herself, she really only did it to get her arms free.

"Aw come on Artemis! How'd you feel if you couldn't move your arms?" Kid flash asks defiantly. They start a bickering about how the girl—Artemis—needed to grow a heart and how Kid Flash needed to grow a brain. Adrianna got a vibe that they liked each other but didn't voice her opinion on the matter, just stood there watching the show. Batman had let them go on for several minutes before both teens started repeating themselves.

"If you two are _done_," he says and almost instantly both of them shut up, "I want to congratulate you on a job well done, you have arrived back at base with your target whole, so I give you the night off." The kids—all except her—go off to do their own thing. She stands there unable to go anywhere without the fear of getting lost. A new place was normally exciting to Adrianna but not a new place _crawling_ with teen super heroes; that added just a little too much thrill.

Adrianna cements herself to where she's standing in the room, unable to think about the many things that she was just told. Millie and Mandy were safe, Jay and Red were wounded and her dog was probably starving at home. All in all this was beginning to show promise of a really suck-y night. Batman had moved to the corner of the room; her bag had suddenly appeared in his hand and she weakly reached for it grasping it with shaky hands.

No one wants to be alone with Batman, not even girls who like to act tough.

"Your friends are being taken care of, the younger ones will be escorted to a separate secure location away for the older ones need they try and…escape from our facility." He says as her hold on her bag tightens. He hasn't let go and she won't meet his eyes. "What other location is there?" she questions gazing at her keychain, looking for a helpful distraction. "There are many places that the public doesn't know about. Trust me they're fine." He lifts his other hand and places it on her shoulder. If she was paying attention she would have shoved it off but she was too busy rejoicing in the fact that they would be safe.

"Also your dog has been taken in by one of the league members, he will be returned to you as soon as possible." She wants to say something cool or something that will make her seem indifferent but she can't conjure up those feelings so she just raises her head to look him in the eye and whisper "Thank you."

With the conversation over, he lowers his arm and turns briskly while walking in the other direction. She turns to leave with her belongings when he says, "A member will be here shortly to see you to your room, until then…" she turns around to gaze at his back and for a second she thinks she can make out amusement in his voice "Try not to get into…_too much_ trouble." And with that he's gone, and she finds herself alone in the headquarters of a thief's worst nightmare.

But she's smiling at least.

/**X**\

**And so ends the second chapter. Adrianna's in a new place and she seems to be a tiny bit out of place, but that's not something a little time won't fix. Any who I hope you enjoyed this chapter and would love to see what you thought.**

**Reviews are love!**


	3. Heroes Blah

I'm back and _surprisingly_ not dying of the flu, (**though it **_**would**_** be nice to get out of school for a few days.)** This chapter was hard to write, but as usual my parents helped in making my life horrible by getting a virus on my laptop—_**thankfully**_ my friend's dad is a technician and _knows_ some people (**he just '**_**knows'**_** a lot of people…that I don't normally trust…but hey if they get the job done his possible mafia ties are safe.)**

**/X\**

Adrianna was stuck—in a quite literal sense actually.

Not only was she stuck in a cave base; oh no it was much worse than that… she was also stuck in a cave base full of _super powered teenagers_. As if the Shadows weren't enough now she had super tykes trying to keep her hidden, well she _hated_ to burst their bubbles but she wasn't staying.

She stood on the glowing floor of the debrief room staring about the space until she was sure no one would come and get her. She wasn't a particularly patient person, but years of doing what she did made her a master at the art of waiting. After several more moments of tense silence to listen for footsteps she was about to leave the room, bored and ready to escape. But first… a little snooping was in order.

**/X\**

After several failed hacking attempts later, she gave up.

_Nothing_…she couldn't get into _anything_, and that was coming from a girl who normally could hack security surveillance and alarms while on a school computer, so yes, she was pissed.

Beyond pissed, but being irritated never helped anyone.

She found that the reason she couldn't get into anything other than her file on the floating hologram computer is because she had her own code. Adrianna Williams—she tried very hard to ignore that—it read and right next to it said B12. It only took several moments after that to realize that she couldn't accesses any other files unless she knew their names as well as their codes. And this was because Batman had to be a paranoid freak about files and hackers. So_, _she figured, that heroes weren't just all brawn and that some of them were actually smart.

After trying several more fruitless codes she gave up, grabbed her bag, slung it over her shoulder and waited.

The longest wait of her life and to her it was like stealing something only to realize later that it's a replica and not worth squat.

She pouted to herself and decided that she would wonder around in the room for a bit.

Over in the corner sat a large machine that was _so __**shiny**_ that it was practically begging to be touched. She glanced around and moved her gaze back to the machine. It was polished and _expensive_ looking and she ran her hand along the edge to feel all the smoothness of the mechanism.

If they had one of these…oh the possibilities were **endless** in her mind, and she had to keep herself from outright **groping** the thing like a cheap whore—because god knows that she was not anywhere near being cheap _or_ a whore—and simply settled for feeling the cold metal beneath her hand.

After doing that for about ten minutes she got bored but marked the thing to memory and walked out of the room. Obviously no one would come looking for her and so off she went exploring the rest of the cave base.

**/X\**

To Adrianna, this would be the perfect time to do some prying, but the thing about being in a superheroes headquarters is that not only is it a little frightening, but very, very discouraging. So she treaded slowly, as though she was heading into a trap—which she very well may be—and into the corridors, cautious about every twist and turn. If she were there alone she would explore more openly, but being afraid that a teen could be wandering about made her much more careful.

Soon she found a bathroom on a secluded hallway; she glanced around and hefted her bag up from having dragged it into the restroom. She spotted her reflection about halfway to the toilet and looked into it, staring at her grubby appearance; she absolutely detested how she resembled a hobo. Her hair was sticking to her forehead, her clothes were covered in a sticky material, and she looked like she had been _mauled_ by a bear.

In other words she looked _down right __**revolting**_**, **and sticky, filthy and totally pissed.

She washed her face and other areas that were too dirty to be overlooked—with a towel that she found in a conveniently placed closet—and changed swiftly, used to the routine of changing into her outfit in confined spaces. After placing her belt on her waist and giving herself another once over in the mirror she left the room, satisfied with what she saw in her reflection she walked out the room.

Dressed in her own personalized Red X outfit she continued on her way feeling much more comfortable.

Of course as soon as she turned the corner she was face to face—more like face to chest—with Red Arrow. She's so startled that she drops her bag on the ground, where it lays, quickly forgotten by its owner.

"Well _hello~_ there!" she said trying to hide her embarrassment, "How goes fighting evil and all that righteous jazz? Bet it's _awesome_ uh huh? I'm gonna go now buh-bye!" she squeaked as she tried to run away.

"Batman told me to find you…" she turned slowly, "_**Did**_** he now**?" she grit out, "And _how_, **may I ask**, does _he know_ where I am?"

"…" she stares at him for a moment.

"_Well_~" she tries.

"…Motion sensors." comes his simple answer and she groans, _of course they have motion sensors_ _idiot,_ her mind says to her, _this __**is**__ a high tech security base after all._

"_Of course_…I **had** to get the _smart_ superheroes! As if asking for a _**dumb**_ one is too much to ask." She rants as he stands there looking broody.

_Her luck had just abandoned her today hadn't it_?

"So are you like the Leader of the group then?" she asks after an awkward moment of silence. He growls out a harsh '_NO'_ and she barely flinches at the tone. He has some issues, and she'd be damned if she wouldn't admit that her favorite pass time was pushing peoples buttons.

" so are you a sidekick to Green Arrow or something—" she's cut off by the glare she's being giving but grins back up at him, "_Oh_ what happened? Daddy **ground** you or something? Can he even _**do**_ that?"

He growls menacingly and her grin threatens to split her face in half, "Oh is that it? Hmmmmm someone has _daddy issues_~" she chirps merrily as he looks like he's refraining from snapping her neck.

Fun _indeed_.

"You _want_ to hit me don't you? You want to but you **can't** 'cause I'm an innocent kid." She mocks.

He looks down at her and snorts, "As _if,_ I know all the little heists that you pulled…You're anything but innocent." Her smile drops as she hears that, "Who knows what other things you do besides stealing, rob old ladies, steal from the dead—kill children."

Now it's her turn to growl at him—he _did __**not**_ just imply that she would hurt the elderly and children. He did not just insinuate that she had no morals. Oh, he had just **crossed** the line, that bastard wouldn't even _**see**_ the beat down coming to him until he was on the floor.

Her foot connected with his bow, which he had brought up surprisingly quick. She kicked off before her could swing at her, and in the narrow hallway it was hard to stick a landing, but she pulled it off without much resistance. She dropped into a fighting stance and Red Arrow raised an eyebrow holding his quiver out, as if to make sure he had a quick shield should she assault him again.

"One minute you're insulting me next you're attacking me. What's your deal?" he asked as held up his make shift shield as she sprung up off the ground to try and kick his head again.

"You insulted me!" she threw a punch, he ducked

"You insulted me first!" he argued back as he dodged another kick to the face, "Oh wait don't tell me," another pause as she brings her fist back, "You actually have _morals _right. You're a thief, thieves don't have principles."

"Oh just like Superheroes don't care about the lives they ruin?" she quips as she pulls out her collapsible bo-staff, "The people you throw in jail have families too you know. Not all of them are selfish people." He takes a step back as she pulls out her weapon,

"And, what about _you_!" she shies away just a bit, but he catches the movement, "You _**steal**_ things from people, you're a thief! **You** hurt them, which seems _pretty __**selfish**_ to me!" he says as they both start to circle each other. The hallway was narrow and they had to get dangerously close to hit each other, so circling their opponent put them both at risk for an attack.

Not that Red Arrow would attack; she was there to be protected after all.

"I do what I can to get by! This is a career choice that keeps me off the streets while I go to school." She says trying to justify her actions as she takes a bold step forward flaunting her shortened bo-staff about. "It's **my** life; I can do what I want with it!" she shouts menacingly, glaring up at the boy few feet away.

She throws a punch that catches him completely off guard and the red clad hero slams into the rocky walls of the constricted corridor. He quickly stumbles out of the way before she manages to land another blow. He quickly raises his bow and warningly places his hand over his arrows hesitating to see if she'll make the first move.

He pauses for a split second and that was all she needed to extend the bo-staff into his chest and him to the floor. She stands over him, staring triumphantly down with her staff pointed warningly at him, hovering above his Adams apple. He's glaring up at her with eyes that show disapproval and anger but all she can feel at the moment is sweet victory.

_Signal the fanfare everyone, she actually did __**something**__**right**_, her mind quipped and she hastily ignored the blow to her ego.

"What does your family think about you stealing?"

"Oh don't give me that touchy bull shi—"

Adrianna wavers for a moment, just enough for him the switch the tables on her. Her feet leave the ground as her momentary pause allows him enough room to sweep her feet out from under her. She groans when she realizes that she is pinned to the ground, with his body weight leaning against her. She leans her head back to touch the floor, _freaking perfect_.

"Fracking A! Get off!"

"_What are you hiding_?" He questions in a tougher voice, his eyes don't lessen and neither does his stance. He actually digs his forearm deeper in her chest and she struggles to breathe until he loosens up.

She turns her head to the side and mumbles out something and he leans down the hear her. "What was that?" he asks her as she tries to become one with the floor.

"I said go screw yours—" and she repeats louder to him, he pushes his forearm harder into her chest and she tries to break his hold only to realize that it would be a useless attempt.

"Fine! Okay! God, **Stop**! That hurts like a mo-fo!" the red hero loosens up a bit and leans back this time when he figures out that this was her surrendering.

"To your first question, my parents disowned me so I really don't give a flying crap stain." she trails off and takes a deep breath, his eyebrow quirks as she continues "and to your second question, nothing so screw off."

He gazes down at her, "Why'd they disown you?"

She gives an irritated sigh and glares up at him as if he were stupid.

"I don't have to tell you that." She states, and then continues "That being said, I feel as if we should just leave this conversation as it is and we never speak about this again." She pauses and looks up at him. Her gaze is somewhat pleading though anyone could tell that she wanted to punch his lights out.

"Fine," he sighs out and leans back so she has more breathing room, "I'll respect that…but if I find out you're hiding something—something that will hurt my friends—I **WILL** end you."

Adrianna scoffs but nods anyway and he lets her up, though he holds onto her arm tightly in case she decides that she wants to spring another attack.

"Come on Batman wanted me to show you to your room…" she tried tugging out of his grip when she noticed he wasn't letting go. "And no I'm not risking you running away."

She sighs, "Hey dude I'm all for percussions and all, and I know you superheroes don't like taking chances or anything but," she gestures vaguely around her to the hallway, "I don't know my way around, and unless you have a map lying around, I'm not going anywhere." Red Arrow turns and gives her a hard stare and after a moment starts dragging her down the hallway.

"Geez, totally a superhero type, only tall, red, dark and broody…hey are you by any chance the real robin in disguise? Because there's no way that little pipsqueak should be running around." The red clad hero snorts in amusement at the question, "_**Especially**__ not in Gotham—_of all places_—_you know? I once heard…" she says as she starts to talk his ear off.

Red Arrow recognizes her rambling and ignores her.

"Huh…" she huffs after several minutes of no response, "You're good, but I must say I would prefer Kid Flash, he seems like a fine kid." She pauses and the red hero skips a beat in his walk, "If you're planning somethin—" he starts but is quickly interrupted with a snort.

"Like I would ever! He's too nice, I could not hurt him. That is in my personal code: '**Don't hurt innocent or nice people' **pretty much explains itself really." She finishes staring up at the rocky ceiling. The hero glances back at her, and Adrianna is caught off guard by the question he asks.

"What are your personal codes? You got really offended when I brought them up earlier."

"No I got offended when you mentioned my lack of morals." She states blandly, but continues after she's sure he's not going to reply. "Um…hm where to start~?" she stills for an instant but hastens her step when she is practically dragged by her arm.

"I guess I could tell you the basics; don't hurt children, do _not_ hurt the elderly, steal only things that people wouldn't miss…_Oh_! And don't get _caught_!" she chirped merrily as she follows him, he becomes silent after that.

After a few awkward seconds of her looking for something else to say she fell quiet; content with having shut the Red Wonder up.

**/X\**

Adrianna spent the rest of her night in her new bed room. She lost her bag in one of the hallways and she'd have to go and look for it tomorrow. She dozes off around two o'clock and when she wakes up there's a pile of stuff stacked outside her door and a map pinned to her sliding door.

She picked it off and stared at it until she saw the arrow telling her to flip it, on the back it read: **Here's some stuff we seized from your home, **_**do not**_** make me regret giving it to you. Also the map is a gift.**

She grins to herself and glances at the front of the map, and giggles she's already starting to like this place already!

**/X\**

So um…yeah Took me a while to type this up and this chapter was hard to write anyway (**Fighting scenes are not my forte.)** so anyway please review it inspires me to write more, and please critique would be awesome, as well as feedback.


	4. Fall From Grace

**Look whose back! Back again! Yora's back! Tell a friend! Yeah she's back with a Chap in a rap which is whack but she's back, yeah she's back Woo!**

**Okay so other than bringing you a new chapter I also gave you a horrible rendition of Shady's back by Eminem. Do I love you guys or what? Well Sorry for the long overdue update, but things such as life got in the way and you know horrible excuses and all. Anyway hope you guys aren't too mad.**

**I love you please don't hunt me down.**

**EDIT: Now I'mm gonna upload the final version and you won't stop me! *wags finger angrily* (okay so fixed it a little stupid thing posted the wrong version) this is the proof read version done by yours truely_I'm just gonna say it now, I don't get all my mistakes so please if you find anything that doesn't fit right don't wait tell me. **

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Eminem or his music **_**or**_** Young Justice. If I did own both…well let's just say a lot of comic book fans would hate me for making Superboy rap for the lulz.**_

* * *

><p>Two weeks; Adrianna would like to state, that it had taken two weeks for anyone to break it to her that Millie had gotten away. She would also like to point out, that when she laughed she wasn't laughing <em>with<em> anyone, she was laughing **at** the heroes. Yep she laughed at them for a full five minutes over losing the weakest member of the thieves.

It took a long time to pry anything out of the team and she personally had to thank Batman for telling her in the first place.

She had cornered Kid Flash—literally right in a freaking corner—and seeing as he was the fastest boy alive she was rather shocked at how easy it was. She leaned in on the younger boy and gave him a long, hard look and he just broken down and told her random things; trying to avert her real concern with stupid stuff she wouldn't care about. His was fifteen, his favorite food was peanut butter, chocolate covered banana sandwiches, and she probably just made him crap his pants—for the record she could never get people to do that.

She barely even had to raise her voice.

She was shocked but she still pushed for answers, even adding a growl for emphasis. When she wanted answers she knew she could be absolutely scary, and no hero—one that was younger than her no less—was going to stand in her way. She may have liked the kid but she wanted answers and when she wanted answers she usually got them.

Even if that ment going all _Batman_ on her victims.

After about thirty minutes of Kid's nonsense, she gave up and—speak of the devil—just when Batman appeared too. After a harsh scolding of the Bat variety—not pleasant at _all—_he finally told her about that he would explain what happened.

It was something about transporting Millie to a different location and that she just—for lack of a better word—disappeared. This time Adrianna cracked up, she had a sneaking suspicion that Batman would slap some duck tape on her but that might bit of a stretch for the dark knight. Then he told her it was Red Arrow who was transporting Mellissa, so she laughed long and hard about that too.

He then sat her down to interrogate her on the where-a-bouts of her missing friend but she really didn't say anything. Millie disappeared on a regular basis; just ask any person she knew. Red would say that Millie was a super secret ninja and go about his business, Jay would just shrug off the question and Mandark would just get a dreamy look in his eye and start babbling on about how hot and mysterious she was. So she was literally the only one could possibly give an actual answer and she didn't have the slightest idea of where to start.

Mellissa had a whole network of con men and thugs; people who sometimes hire the X's to do their dirty work. If she wanted to be found she would make herself traceable but normally that didn't happen. If Millie didn't want to be found? Well, whoever was looking for her was screwed. Adrianna never really minded when Millie left; she only cared if she needed her and she couldn't find her.

So if the _Justice League_ can't find her, and the Red X's didn't know then the Shadows were just as screwed as both groups.

The pride that wells up when she hears the news that Mellissa was gone—she had taught the girl a way to get out of sticky situations though not this—is almost over whelming. Batman says something about having a brief meeting with her friends to brainstorm, even if they can't find Mellissa.

It'll be the first time she's sees her friends in almost a month, she doesn't turn down the offer.

* * *

><p>Booster Gold was a rather cool guy. If you got past the cockiness and the self-centeredness, and well everything else that makes Booster, Booster. The whole way to the Hall of Justice was almost bearable with him coming along. He couldn't talk about anything other than himself, but they found common ground on their avid dislike of many things. Being distrusted, underestimated were a few things that they equally hated but Red Arrow popped up a few times in the conversation.<p>

But only because he was coming along too.

When they reached the Hall Gold made a bee line for a back hallway. There had to be at least a hundred people on staff that day. About twelve minutes in and Adrianna was sure that she would have gotten lost. Booster Gold was treating it like a tour and was showing her where their Libery—the real one—was, where the mess hall was and then the battle room. Adrianna acted like it was a field trip, she kept asking all these questions and Booster answered them to the best of his abilities.

Red Arrow had had enough. "Just take up there. We don't need a glorified tour." Glanced back at him and turned back to Booster Gold who was looking rather put off. She slapped a grin on and cheerily grasped Boosters arm.

"Don't mind him; he's just grumpy because he's my man slave today." She joked. The Blonde man chuckled slightly and Red Arrow just glowered at her. "I don't know why I offered to do this. You don't want to help find your friend at all." She smiled at him, removing her hand from the older man's arm.

"Get your arrows out of a knot," she said challengingly eyeing him from head to toe, "I'd hate to have to mess you up in front of your superior Arrow." He scoffed at her and took a step forward.

"He's not my superior." He growls out, "and you can't do anything." He pushed past her. Booster was looking at them both from the side lines; he didn't look like he was going to break them up anytime soon. "Batman took all your weapons and gadgets. Right now you're just a girl in a spandex suit." The look she was giving him was pure hate and anyone with a brain could tell she was thinking of lunging at him at that very moment.

Sad thing is that what he said was true, Batman took her weapons away and all she had on her at the moment was her protective gear—which couldn't do much in the Hall—she was practically harmless. Practically because she still had her martial arts and gymnastics backing her up.

She huffs turning back to Booster Gold. "Can we go now? The air here has too much _asshole_ in it."

* * *

><p>She's ushered in with the rest of the Red X's she genuinely smiles for the first time in a month—when she's not around the fastest boy alive.<p>

Of course Red Arrow was there too, Booster having left to do something else—an excuse really he only wanted to get away from the feuding teens. The snide remarks they have been trading up until that point had no actual jab, not after she refused to respond and she could tell he was getting frustrated because none of his insults really offended her. She's in the middle of making some retort about how he needed to lighten up when her voice falters then fades completely.

They're standing in a completely steel hall, there were only a few doors and there were also no markings other than stenciled words on each door. She gets a giddy feeling which makes her look like a child on Christmas morning and she's sure that her eyes are as wide as saucers. She turns to the red head and grins so big he's promptly caught off guard; she's so excited she could start singing if she wasn't so horrible at it.

Red Arrow—who is completely freaked out mind you—reaches around her and taps the number pad next to the door.

When the doors slide open she walks through. Her eyes automatically center on Red, who was sitting on a chair, had a cast on one arm and bandages on the side of his face and on his right ankle. Jason—who already has a bunch of battle scars—is sporting a new mark down his left arm, a wrap around his left knee and is looking dead serious. Mandark looked absolutely fine if she didn't look at the bags under his eyes and the bruise on his cheek or the beaten down by life look to him. In fact if Adrianna looked close enough they all had that look.

_Don't dwell_, she thinks, _don't ask they'll tell you what's wrong when they're ready._

She was so happy; she almost tackled Jason when he stood to greet her Red Arrow just stands awkwardly at the door. Jason wrapped his uninjured arm around her and she thanked the heavens that Batman's 'critical' damage wasn't as bad as it initially sounded. Just a few broken bones, scrapes and bruises; nothing they hadn't dealt with before.

The wetness on her face was not tears, they weren't and she would kill whoever mentioned them. Of course Red Arrow was standing right behind her but he didn't mention it if he saw them, keeping to the corner like a good little watch dog. Adrianna just dug her face into Jason's—probably injured—chest like a child and breathed slowly until the tears stopped. Jason brought his other hand up to rest on the top of her head and smoothed it down; when she looked up he just smiled his crooked—if somewhat off—grin.

"Well that's _heartwarming_ and all," She can't stop the glower that forms on her face when she hears Red Arrows voice, "but can we get down to business?" he pointedly looks over her head but Adrianna answers anyway.

"Lay off **arrow boy**, I haven't seen my friends in _forever_. At least let me have my moment." He probably rolled his eyes but didn't respond and just gave Jay this loaded look before turning towards the door.

Jason says something about needing to talk with her later and leave without another word after the archer. Adrianna nods though she's sure that he didn't see it, and turns her attention back to the only other occupants in the room.

"Where's my injured ginger?" she asks lightheartedly. "The dead weight with Jason is a stick in the mud." She sighs relaying the last couple of hours on her trip here. "You wouldn't believe the things he said on ride here; 'don't make eye contact with the tourists, don't say anything to them, and don't even think blah blah blah," she gestures with her hands making a mouth with it and moving it along with her voice "he's a real downer."

She's sure from the silence that she just talked herself into an uncomfortable hole. But she doesn't give up and continues making idle conversation with no one in particular. After about ten minutes of that she just got fed up and moved towards Red.

"What's wrong with you? You act like you _don't_ want me here."

Red scooted further in his chair away from Adrianna as she tries to lean down, "That's because I don't" he hisses back. She's taken aback almost immediately, and stands looking bewildered at him. She tries not to look like it hurt but fails miserably at it, so she just drags her feet over to hug Mandark instead, getting no reaction from the boy.

She pulls back, something is **definitely** wrong with her friends.

She tries to start a chat again but fails, due to the harsh glare she's receiving from her friend, "_Soooooooo_…." She starts looking everywhere but the two teens in the room, "Have you heard about Millie?" she asks brightly wincing as the look he was giving her hardened, "it's good thing she got away. maybe she'll come with reinforcements." She chances a quick glance back at the boy.

"_Millie_?" He asked giving her a stern look as she anxiously looked away again. She laughed nervously and pointedly looked at the wall as if it was more exciting than seeing her friend right now. "_Please_, 'Millie' _**Ditched**_ she's not coming back and even if she did I don't _want _her too." Adrianna just stares at the other seventeen year old.

"What do you mean Red?" the door opens up letting Jason back into the room. She pays it no mind, "She _ditched_? Wha—Millie would never do that." Mandark covers his ears and closes his eyes. He's the youngest out of all of them at the age of sixteen; he shouldn't be in this mess, he's barely got his life started and he already has to deal with this.

It suddenly became _very_ tense in the room. Mandark was curled in on himself in the chair and started mumbling to himself. She wanted to go over and hug him but Red's glare was still holding her in place.

"Hey **Arrow**! Did you tell her how _Millie_," he paused, venom dripping off the other girl's name, "didn't even _look back_ as she _ran away_?" Red accusingly asks Red Arrow, "Or did you not tell her that the reason Mandy's sporting a bruise because of _her_? Or that she was **two timing** us?" Adrianna's eyebrows rose to her hairline. They then narrow at the red head.

"_What _aren't_ you telling me Red_?" the boy in question shakes his head cockily and Adrianna warningly calls his name again, which he ignores.

"I don't know what you're talking about." If anything she bet that he did know what he was talking about. She rolls her eyes at the cliché wording he just used.

_Way not to sound guilty Arrow_, she thinks.

"Adrianna here," he gestures lazily with an edge to his voice. Mandark was being awfully quiet in the corner and Jason was doing nothing to stop it. "Thinks that Millie just _slipped away_…"

She speaks up at this, "I don't know what going on Red! If you _told_ me maybe I could understand. What happened when she left? Why would she hit Mandy? What two timing? _What aren't you telling me?"_

Red rounds on her again, "I'm pretty sure **you** should know!" the accusation was right there in his voice and she took a step back. She's never seen him that angry before. "She was working for the Shadows." He pauses and sneers at her, "I don't want you anywhere near me. For all we know you could be working for them too."

There's silence as the words ring out. She's stock still too angry and confused to say anything. Red Arrow was looking rather annoyed with all the yelling. Mandark was crying now and Jason just had this look on his face like he was so tired. He's the first one to say anything too moving over to Adrianna to maneuver her out of the room. He nods to Red Arrow and ushers her down the hall ignoring her questions in favor of just pushing her away.

* * *

><p>They stop somewhere near the gym and the battle room and she wonders why he just moved her instead of hitting Red and letting that be the end of it.<p>

He leans against the metal wall gazing at her for a long moment before sighing. "Care to explain what just happened?"

Adrianna gives a shaky breath; she wants to know how one little name had such a snow ball effect. "I just said something about Millie…I didn't, think…" she just shuts up and glides down the opposite wall. "I dunno what I _did_! I just said I was happy she got away and he just _exploded_." She looks to Jason, eyes pleading for an answer.

The boy across from her seems to crumble and the voice that comes out is tired with worry and exasperation. She looked way older than a nineteen year old at that point, "He's been up tight. We're all up tight." He says, Brooklyn accent showing through now that he's too exhausted to keep up the monotone voice. He sighed and looks back at her, "You seemed rather happy when you walked in… He probably didn't like the fact that you're not stressed about this at all."

"Well _why_ would I be stress—"

"Melissa **ditched**. She didn't 'get away,' or 'go to get reinforcements' she vanished. Plain and simple and she didn't even _try_ to help us; she just _left_. And frankly I think Red feels like you're not trust worthy." She stands quickly when she hears that, rage fills her to the brim and she has to repress the urge to punch the older teen.

"_Not trust worthy_**?** **I** wanted to see you guys, and **you** all start acting like you'd rather want me dead and _I'm _the one_ betraying you_? What kind of _Bullshit_ is that?" Jason doesn't flinch. If there is one thing she's always hated about her friends is that they were great at hiding emotions; much better than she ever was or ever will be. "What the _hell_ did I do?"

"Nothing. And that's the problem." She wants to ask what he means but he answers before she even opens her mouth, "You severed the comm. link."

The shiver that runs up her spine is cold and gripping. She severed the feed? Yeah she did, but they weren't responding she had thought they had commanded radio silence or severed their feed as well.

She whispers, "You didn't answer." He's using that poker face that she hates and doesn't lift his gaze for a long time.

She hugs herself and turned away from him, staring down the long expanse of metal that made the hallway. It just seemed so long, maybe she could run and run and it would be endless. Like a maze that grows more complicated with each turn. She wonders how long it would take for her to get lost in this base, wonders how long it would take Red Arrow or another hero to find her.

She doesn't take her chances.

"Anyway what's this have to do with me?" she asks turning back to the other teen.

"It's not really you…is more like it has to do with your mother," he suddenly looks very awkward and doesn't really meet her eyes completely. She's angry now, why would this have anything to do with her mom? It's not like she sent the shadows after them…

Oh shit she's freaking _blind._

"We don't talk anymore, we don't live in the same house, and we haven't seen each other since the court date. I have nothing to do with her." He doesn't reply to her and instead fixes his stare just over her shoulder like she's not there, and she wants to shake him until he does.

She wants to shake him until the world comes back to its senses. She just wants to so she could go back to living the perfect life, with perfect friends, in an okay but rather shitty apartment. Back to when everything was what she considered normal again.

Or she at least wants to shake Jay until he could look her in the eye like a damn_**man**_.

Jason still avoids her hard gaze as he opens his mouth, "We think she hired the Shadows." Came the blunt response, and she doesn't answer. How could they come to that conclusion? They were stuck in one place and she doubts that the Justice league would let Mandark near their computers. What had they been talking about over the last month?

Better question: why would her mother find it necessary to screw with her life when she wasn't even _a part_ of it anymore?

"So what if she did, huh? She got what she wanted! No more Red X that just means she can win the elections now." She doesn't really expect him to reply. He sighs again and personally she's getting tired of hearing it, "I don't' think you understand what I'm getting at." She scoffs and glares at him.

"Then do inform me oh wise and talented Jason. Just what am I not getting? Millie's a traitor; my mother hired the shadows to off me and my friends won't even look at me. What am I not getting?" She expects him to do that cryptic thing where he basically brushes her off and walks away. He doesn't do either of those though; instead he levels her with the harshest glare she's ever seen him wear and she's never wanted to run from him so badly before.

"You." Was his simple answer, "you're not getting the part where you tie in." he growls lowly and she would take a step back if she wasn't against the wall already. "_You're_ mother hired the shadows. _You_ thought Mellissa would be a great part of the team. _You_ didn't reply when we got captured and had to fight off the Shadows. See what I'm getting at?" She winces because she has an inkling of what he's getting at and she can't run; because that just might prove him right, might just push the scale a little farther in the wrong direction.

She knew what was coming; she just didn't want to hear it.

She convinces herself that she's not running because she's not afraid of him. He was the boy she'd seen cry, the boy she'd seen bleed, he's human just like everyone else. Only he was the first person who saw her and didn't think snobby, rich, and pampered and saw her as a person.

"Please don't say it." She whispers to him, voice cracking while tears build in her eyes. "Don't just don't." she pleads because she knows that if he says it she's just break down and cry. She'll cry and then do what? Sit there in the middle of the hallway like a moron. She's pleading in her mind '_don't don't don't_' over and over like a broken record.

"You're not a Red X anymore" and it's over simple, sweet and to the point.

She thinks she's gonna go crawl in that hole now.

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><p><strong>And that's how the cookie (err Adrianna) crumbles people.<strong>

**I love to put my characters through torment, it brings me some inner joy…ummmm never mind.**

**Wow that was a long hiatus…now it's time to get cracking. I got some Ideas and I got most of them written out. Just thought I'd post something before my brain dies of over use. Wish me luck 'cause now I have to get cracking on finishing three books before school starts.**

**Remember Reviews are love!**

**Happy last month of summer guys! Hope it isn't shitty like mine…**


	5. What Now?

**Hey I actually got around to typing this! Oh the joys of not doing my very important project due tomorrow!**

**Ya'll know the drill I don't own yada-yada yakity-yak**

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><p><em>There was nothing but regret and revulsion in her mother's eyes as the words stabbed at her heart, "You were a sweet kid, Adrianna, destined for so much, but you <em>_**blew**__ it…and for what? A bit of fame? A Bit of cash?"_

_"There's not enough money in the world to make me happy, mom." Came her scathing reply_

_"But now what? You're a mistake, no one wants you…Who will you turn to? Who would want you? I'm your mother, but even now I don't even desire you. Now what?" _

_"I get the hell away from you!" she seethed as she walked away from her home, bag slung over her shoulder as her mother stood on the steps._

_"Now what Adrianna?" came her mother's call as she reaches the edge of the driveway_

_"Now what?"_

* * *

><p><em>Now? <em>She would continue with what she was good at. She would strive to prove her mother wrong…why? Because that was the only thing she had left right now…her pride.

Her life was never easy, all material things put aside, she was a rather poor kid. Never really knew her grandparents, wasn't close to her siblings, never had that many friends…she was a loner. Any politician's kid can tell you that everything you do is monitored by the public and that you're almost always alone. That, no matter how your parents preach they'll never change, they always do.

And when they change, it's like a whole other person takes over. It's no longer about family and life, it's about money, power and control. Some say that time changes a person; Adrianna was a strong believer that politics can do it ten times faster. Politics changed her and her mother…and **not** for the better, that's for sure.

When she takes a look back at her life she wonders how it would have been, if her parents stayed together, if her mother was a doctor like she planned to be, if her father paid any attention to his kids. She wonders and wonders as words wash over her on the way back to the base.

The little aircraft shakes for a minute, though it gains no remark from anyone in the shuttle. Adrianna was too busy staring out the window at the spider that somehow survived the three hour trip from the Hall of Justice to the mountain base. Only to fall off once they landed.

_He's a little trooper, _she thinks_, he actually hung on for most of the ride…he didn't..._

_Oh no…look at her! Comparing herself to a _spider_ she really _was_ pathetic. _

"Get some rest, you look like crap... or more so now than you normally do." Her response to Red Arrow's insult wasn't a response at all, more like a curt nod. She ground her teeth together as she slinked off the ship, anger boiled in her veins but she was just too tired to even think of a comeback. When and doubt, duck out, she was never one to stay where she wasn't wanted anyway.

"You could have tried to be nicer, ya know…she just got burned by her old teammates." Replied a harsh whisper; Booster Gold really was one heck of a nice guy, but how long will that last?

Cynical worlds corrupt the good after all and she lived a cynical life, so she was chalk full of cynical views.

Maybe it was her upbringing? No scratch that it had to be because of her upbringing. How many kids missed out on an actual childhood, a lot when you think about it; but, how many well-to-do kids knew that their petty problems were just that, petty?

Not many.

It just so happens that when you went to a school where the majority of the student population hates your guts, you toughen up and grow a backbone. No childhood for you, no youthful naïveté, just hate from the starting line.

She grew tough skin in the years that followed; no one wanted to talk to her, no one wanted to be seen with her, rumors spread around her like wildfire. It was when she realized she has no friends, only the passing conversation, which would later be dissected by vapid blondes with big mouths.

Anything you said could and would be used against you in an unofficial court of the playground. Punishment? No friends for the rest of your miserable existence.

This had started the downward spiral of nice, polite, and caring _Adrianna Williams_.

And the rise of the deeply hateful, spiteful, and just _downright__ mean, Adrianna Grey._

She never had many friends, her family ignored her, she got straight A's and everything a girl her age ever wanted. But, sadly, she only wanted someone to play with her, to look at her and acknowledge her presence_—__a "__**that'll do pig**__" would have worked __wonders__ back then__—_or to simply be involved in one of the grownups conversation every once in a while.

Now in retrospect her life seems like that akin to a serial killer, but trust her when she says that she has not once thought of taking someone else's life, simply because hers sucked major ass. Common sense and the fear of jail kept that out of her mind.

This is not to say that she hadn't thought of taking her _own_ life though. She defiantly wasn't going to do it to be seen, or to have people pay attention to her, but to simply see if someone would notice she had left.

She would sometimes fantasize about her classmate's reactions to her death. The scenarios would play over and over in her head, a broken record that kept her entertained for hours. The things they would call her, the things she'd hear her mother call her.

She was_ alone…_a_ loner. _

Oh that word_…__loner__… _it probably stung worse than the other words she heard back then. Loser, stupid, fat, ugly, they were probably better to her ears than that one word…

_Alone. Loner. She would never have any friends because she was always alone anyway. _Even her step-father_,_ Scott (of all people,) noticed something was off before Donna ever did.

_"The teachers say that she's starting to break off from the other children." Her step-father whispered quietly, her mother didn't seem to reply at first but the hushed tone Adrianna heard after a moment was enough to verify her suspicions._

_"She just the loner type, she'll be fine, she's head strong, thick skinned, you know she got that from her father, useless son ova' bitch that he was…" a pause, "He at least installed __something__ useful into that girl."_

You gotta love how her mother also talked about her like she was a computer. Like she wasn't a real person…yeah politics were to blame for that one too. In politics people were just numbers to earn, Adrianna had to be programmed the right way to give her mother a family friendly appeal.

She stopped in front of the door to her room. She was so tired of it. Tired of the lies, the abandonment issues, her_ "mommy" _issues; she was tired of it all. Her head touched the cool surface of her steel door.

_What now…_rattled around in her head while she gazed at reflection, it made her sick; she wanted to punch that face into a million tiny pieces. Or do _something_ until she couldn't feel her hand anymore.

Or maybe bang her head into it…_hopefully_ she'll get a concussion, or better yet! Fall into a **coma**! That was always a _better_ option.

She snorted,_ no it wasn't__._

Punching in the code she dragged herself into her room and plopped down on the edge of her bed, for all she cared, she could die right there and people would never miss her. But, then who would show her that she was wrong? That she had a purpose? Show her that _what now_ really meant, _what's next_.

Besides, she gave up on her silly suicide dream years ago. She knew the reactions she would get, the nonchalant shrugs of shoulders, and the heaving of uncaring sighs. She would much rather live on and be hated by the world then die and be forgotten.

But that still brought up the question: _What now, what can I possibly do now? I'm alone; no one wants __me__. I'm a wanted criminal in most states, my own mother could care less if I was floating face down in the Mississippi River, and my friends abandoned me…_

Hot angry tears rolled down her cheeks. Her ceiling was the most fascinating thing to her that moment.

_Aim big but start small__, _she told herself_, __maybe go back to school? Get a job and an apartment in a decent neighborhood. Put yourself through college, try not to steal anymore. Make them wish they had stayed in your life cause you're gonna be freaking rich and famous without them! _

_…__Yeah right…_She continued to stare until her eyes hurt. But as she drifted off to sleep she couldn't stop the thought from coming back.

_What could possibly be next?_

* * *

><p>A few hours later a small knock came from the other side of her door but she did not respond. Next came a whispered<em> "Adrianna?"<em>

She glanced over at the clock, three a.m.? No one should_ ever _wake her up at _three a.m.,_ but then again it's not like she told anyone in the base that she hated waking up early.

_It also doesn't help that she doesn't know what time she went to bed anyway…_

"_Go away_." Was her answer, as she stood from her bed headed towards her conjoining bathroom. She brushed her teeth; there was no way she was getting back to sleep now that she was awake. A heavy sigh from the other side of the door, along with the whirring of her automatic locks. She groaned groggily, she did not want to deal with anyone right now.

"Booster said I needed to apologize. So don't think I'm doing this for you…cause well I'm not." She walked back into her room and stood next to the bed before dropping face first in it. Propping herself up on her elbows, she stared back at him and sighed loudly. Her red-brown hair was sticking to her forehead and she had a head ache.

"That's okay Red." Adrianna replied, "Just, just go away alright? I'll be fine after a few days."

"_Geez-us _you really do look like crap." She grinned weakly at him, "Always the charmer aren't you?" he averted his gaze and she rested her hand against her face; her eyesight was shot and her left arm was asleep from it falling asleep under her weight.

"Hey come on, no snarky remarks on how I always look like crap or if I've looked in the mirror lately?" he almost seemed to plead with her but she didn't respond. "Wanna talk about it?" he supplied as her bed sank down in one corner. He obviously wasn't going to leave her alone now.

"What will I_ do_?" she whispered quietly, while she flopped back onto her bed, "What can I possibly do now? There's nothing left for me to turn to. No more, family, no more friends, no more crazy schemes and shenanigans. I'm completely alone now."

There was a long pregnant pause, in which she just rolled over on her stomach to stare at the hero, who was now sitting at the end of her bed.

"You move on." Was his reply after a few minutes, "You rebuild, when going gets tough the tough get going." She waved her arm.

"What candy wrapper did you read that off of? Snickers? Come back when you have something original Red." The older teen sighed and shoved her over to lie down next to her. "Wah?—"

"You're making me depressed." She glared at him, "I normally don't like being depressed by myself, wanna be depressed buddies?" she couldn't help it but she smiled a tiny bit at the ridiculous statement.

"You're such an ass."

"…whatever…wanna watch a movie?" he said as they settled in for a moment. She turned, "Do we get to eat ice-cream and throw popcorn at each other while we braid hair?" she snorted amusedly.

"Hey you really are a girl after all!" another smile was pried from her lips and she shoved him playfully. "Shut up, I can act as girly as the next chick…" she paused, a movie really did sound good at the moment, "Can we watch a movie with a lot of impossible stunts in it while we critic the effects and likeliness of the main character surviving?"

An amused grin spread across his face, "Sure why not?"

"Good! Been in the mood for some Die Hard movies anyway." he groaned at her, she shoved him lightly, "and besides Die Hard is a perfectly good movie thank you very much! I also happen to think that the main character is hot."

"He's like three times your age, you know that right?"

"So? And I was talking about that guy from accepted, but I guess Bruce Willis is hot too… you know…for an old guy."

This continued for a moment.

"Hey Red Wonder! Movie now, talk later."

Well at least she had something to do _now_.

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><p><strong>So I hope you guys enjoyed it! I gotta get this project done! A three week project? Done in two nights? I must be suicidal…but Guess what? I got the hard part down last night!<strong>

**HOO-WA! **

**Wish me luck!**

**And remember Reviews are love!**


	6. Adventure! And crap

**As much as I love you guys and as much as I love the reviews...I still have school work and two AP classes aare not things I reccomend...EVER so All I gotta say is if you want more expect more around breaks like Christmas and New Years 'cause I'm sorry to say that that will be the only time I'll ever update.**

**Anyway enough with the sad update and crap...I'll just let you get back to reading this...oh and if you want there are some pictures of Adrianna on my Devi account if you want to check it out.**

**Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: I don't own...yadda yada yappity yap and stuff that so totally not awesome right here...**

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><p>Donna tapped her foot impatiently as she waited in her office. It was way past midnight and she needed to get home before her husband found out where she was. Her gaze shifted to and fro as she made a scene of tidying her papers and cleaning her desk. It was important for her to look as natural as possible, for there were still some people lurking through the halls of her campaign office and she needed to keep up the ruse until her guest came.<p>

After rearranging her desk ordainments twice—the pencil sharpener defiantly needed to be placed on the inside, lest she risk her son touching it—and checking her complexion, which was flawless, she had had enough. Standing in her Prada heels she stomped towards the ornate glass door, only to have it slammed open by an eighteen year old girl.

"Ah I see I took too long…again." The woman sighed flippantly as she glided into the room. Trying to come off as undeterred, Donna shifted her pencil skirt and stood straight, to appear menacing. Her long legs and strides carried her back over to her leather chair where she elegantly, for there was no other way to, sat down.

"Let's begin shall we…" a pause and she was off again, fixing of an already perfect detail, "I would like to discuss your history with the Shadows starting as of 2008."

The woman glanced away then back as if pondering over how much she could tell her, Donna huffed irritably and after her pointed look, the girl spoke up a mocking smile gracing her lips. She could be no bigger than Donna herself and she had the most condescending smile that had ever graced the lips of a child.

"I would like to inform you that I did not willingly come to the Shadows, but…" another pause and another huff of air from the older woman's mouth, "you drive a _hard_ bargain. My brother's, relatively, unhealthy life traded for the lives of four others? It was almost too much and how can I condemn four people? Let alone four children." a smirk then a barely concealed chuckle came from her and Donna tried her best to obscure her irritable features.

"Look I didn't call you here for the summary of your life; I need you to tell me if you got the objective done so I can continue with my plan." The younger woman huffs and pouts and Donna thinks she looks more like her actual age than her older persona.

She feels rather triumphant over that.

"Fine, I did what you wanted, I played the stupid game. I infiltrated your daughters little 'team,' got all nice and cozy with them and broke them up. Look I even did your stupid infiltration follow up as Booster Gold. Adrianna is as good as dead to the other Red's and so is 'Millie' it's like Hush was never there." Donna smiled at that the girl's use of her codename which meant she defiantly believes that the Shadows still need her.

"Ah then good work. You have done a great job." She stood straightening out her skirt once again; it was never perfect enough unlike her plan. "Soon they will see the light." She refrains from cackling evilly and grins towards the, now, uneasy girl. "Soon they will all see the light."

After ushering the younger one out, she turns to a shadow that was lurking in the corner of the office.

"I presume you want me to do a follow up?" the voice cooed from its position.

"Oh I want you to do more than just follow up…" her grin was menacing, "That buffoon T.O. Marrow refuses to join the shadows but he wants his pet robot back…you know the Red one?" the Person gave her a look, "The newest red one…" she corrected at the exasperated glare.

"Yes, I do believe I am familiar with that Red one." The voice came from the ceiling that time but Donna refused to jump.

"Well we'll let Marrow continue his little operation for now, but during that time I believe the base will be vulnerable…the perfect time to create some chaos." She paused staring at the breathing shadow skeptically, "Do you think you can stir up some distrust among the team? Maybe implant some type of doubt?" a brief moment for her to consider that boy as well, "oh and do something about that little archer too if you wouldn't mind. He's been getting too friendly with Cheshire and I would prefer him out of the picture...if you catch my drift." A sigh is all she hears from the woman.

"Yes I catch your drift…whoever doesn't catch your drift is a moron, 'cause it's never really a secret with you."

Donna frowns up at the older woman, "Hey! Don't think that since you're high up in the chain that I can't kill you." The shadow shifts into something huge and creepy but she doesn't flinch or back down.

"Like you could do anything."

She doesn't respond, in fact all she does is grip the woman's shadow cloak and drags her, bodily, out into the light of her lamp. The hissing of the retreating darkness is very satisfying to her ears, along with the pained face the older woman makes as the inky blackness slinks off her shoulders.

"Oh? I couldn't do anything? You are seriously testing me tonight Shade. You know what happened to the last telepath?" she waits for a response, pressing the graying woman closer to the lamp light, "Well do you?" she asks as she shakes the woman by her cloak. Shade shakes her head horridly.

"Well I decided that he would take a little vacation into my_ mind_…he didn't find nice things there…ya'know? I like to think that he's still in there somewhere..._I wouldn't know of course cause I killed him and all_…"

Shade shakes visibly and Donna mentally pats herself on her back. "I want results! And, if I don't get them soon, I'll give you a little visit, you got that?" she throws the inky figure across the room but she disappears before she hits the ground leaving only the hissing yes left by the woman.

She feels a little better now that she could yell at someone other than her staff. But it was way past the time her husband would notice her absence and she would rather skip the angry yelling and go straight to bed so she could plot more evil things in her sleep.

Alone once again, Donna goes through the delicate motions of straightening her suit, checking her Rolex, tidying her desk, and grabbing her brief case as she leaves the door open for the janitor.

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><p>"Adrianna? Are you up? I made breakfast."<p>

Adrianna shifted in her bed and groaned loudly, but did not get up from her position. Red Arrow was still there she guessed, but she didn't bother to open her eyes and check , opting instead to roll over on her stomach and try to sleep some more.

"Adrianna?" M'gann asked again, that time knocking on the door, there was a movement from the other side and muffled words. Something about how she wasn't responding and she wanted to make sure she was alright. Adrianna woke up as soon as she heard Superboy's voice on the other side of the door. Didn't he have X-ray vision? How was she going to explain why Red Arrow was, practically, passed out on her bed?

"Red!" she hissed out as she started to have a panic attack, " Dude, Red, get up!" She nudges the boy next to her with her foot, practically stabbing him in the side with her big toe. Her eyes moved quickly about the room, which was still blurry from sleep, and landed on the clock. It was eight in the morning, they'd only gotten about four hours of sleep and the others were gonna leave for school soon.

"Hey stupid! Get up! Seriously I dunno how I'm going to explain it if they—" he yawned and rolled over, after having less than seven hours of sleep and having to share her bed with the rudest boy alive she gets angered rather quickly, "Get your_ ass _outta my bed **now**!" she roars, kicked him hard in the side. She was satisfied with herself for kicking him completely off the bed, until he grabs her and drags her down on top of him.

"What the _hell_ was that for!"

"Adrianna! Adrianna is someone in there with you? Don't worry we'll be right in!" Damn that's defiantly what she needed. The teen cavalry to come marching into her room

She gave a defeated sigh from her spot on top of him, as the door slid open to reveal a battle ready Miss Martian and Superboy. Upon seeing the two of them though the super teens looked perplexed, somehow trying to gather the pieces in their heads into something that made sense.

"_Why…?"_ Superboy began, but M'gann quickly shushed him with a blush on her face, "_Conner_, how about we leave them to…what they were doing." He was still confused as she ushered him out of Adrianna's room.

Her head popped back in, "Um—you can uh, resume what you were doing…" the blush on her face was a dead give away to what the green skinned girl was thinking. The darker skinned girl groaned in displeasure while she shifted to stand.

"_Thank you, Megan_." The door slid closed behind the Martian girl, Adrianna turned back to the red clad teen, eyeing him disdainfully, "You're stupid." She claimed as she walked towards the bathroom, stepping over him while doing so, "Like _'dumber than a sack of retarded bricks_,' stupid."

Red Arrow made a noise somewhere between a groan and a grunt as he stood, stretching his back out, "Your feet were in my back the whole time, and who in their right mind falls asleep halfway through an action movie? It's an action movie." She snorted, from where she stood in front of a mirror, checking herself over.

She needed a bath, needed to brush her teeth, comb her hair, needed to get out of the clothes she slept in. She just needed to do something mundane while her thoughts calculated through how to explain what the Martian and clone saw.

Red Arrow was grumbling about crazy chicks or something that she didn't particularly care about. But, he muttered something about going back to sleep, she glared at him, "Heh, not in my bed you aren't." she points at the door, but he refuses to move from the spot , "There's a room right across the hall that you could have dragged your lazy butt to last night."

There was a pause.

"Actually, _why didn't _you go next door? I'm sure you've been here enough times to know that there's one there." Red Arrow looked away from her accusing gaze, she barely raised an eyebrow at that as she turned to look at the mirror; she was overdue for a haircut and new color. She probably should dye it back to the dark brown she had when she came here two months ago, maybe add a few highlights to make it more natural? Well that and she didn't want anyone recognizing her as Adrianna Williams.

If she let it grow too long she'd look like her mom, and she did not need a constant reminder of her at the moment. And, there, she just got herself all depressed again. Wow, her day was just going swimmingly wasn't it?

The face she made frustrated her more than it really should have and she was really tempted to put her hand through the glass of the mirror at that moment.

"You look fine," Red Arrow interrupted her primping process by bodily cutting her view off, ultimately stopping her hand from meeting the reflexive surface. "What are you gonna say to get out of this mess?" Red arrow asked her.

"M'gann and super—Conner I mean—are the only ones who live here full time, with the exception of Aqualad. And I, personally, don't give two craps about what they think" She paused, "But I guess if you're worried you can always say I just needed a teddy bear for the night."

He gave her a deadpan look as she giggled, "What? I like that explanation a lot better than, 'we had a slumber party,' just tell them that I just needed someone to stop me from moping around or some crap like that." Adrianna suggested flippantly and before he can even utter another word she has the bathroom door in her grasp.

"Now scram, I need to take a shower."

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><p>Adrianna, having just exited the shower, rubbed at the stinging liquids in her eyes until the blurry wetness was gone and she could open them without fear of the burning becoming too unbearable. She had slipped in the shower while shampooing her hair and had bruised her shoulder. Her back throbbed as she leaned against the cool wall, and closed her eyes. This day was just getting worse and worse and it was barely twelve.<p>

Then the events from the day before popped into her mind and she felt the sudden urge to hit something. Anger and resentment clouded her mind and she heard a voice tell her that she needed to get out of there. But instead of fleeing to the relative comfort of her room she let her view roam for a minute, before it landed on the innocent mirror hanging above the sink. It was almost mocking her; she couldn't stand gazing at her pissed off visage for longer than a few seconds before she solidly collided her fist with it.

"Ugh!" She punched the glass hard, then again and again until a spider web like crack formed on its surface and it chipped in places. She winced as she repeated the motion a few more times, but was only satisfied when she pulled her bloody hand back towards her. Frustrated tears welled in her eyes threatening to go over; all this pent up anger had to be released. She punched it again as many fragments dislodged from the fixture and wedged themselves into her coffee colored hand.

She moved on to try and clean her wound as best she could with just the little health kit on the wall. After removing as many stray shards as she could she wrapped it before heading out towards her room partially dressed.

Red Arrow was still there, waiting patiently on her bed, which was made. She cocked her head to the side, eyeing the boy as he took her in. From where she was standing he almost looked like Red…Desmond…and it made her heart ache somberly. She really didn't want to be around anyone today.

"I heard glass break, everything all right?" Adrianna glanced away from him; he even sounded like Red too. Oh how her heart hurt to hear it, "Yeah fine…I…" she took a deep breath, closing her eyes to block out the Red wonder.

"I um….I slipped." She held up her hand for him to see. Lying wasn't really her strong point which he seemed to pick up on right away.

"What really happened?" he asked not moving from his spot. She sighed, hunched her shoulders, and clutched at her hair that was still wrapped in a towel. It was cold in her room and she still needed to dry her hair out and change into something a tiny bit more comfortable than what she wore last night. She chuckled lightly as she assumed his gaze shifted to what she was wearing; some men just never seem to learn.

"Yeah, Red? I'll answer your question after you leave so I can change. M'kay?" He looked away and if her room wasn't so dark she could have sworn he was blushing. "Right, sorry." He cleared his throat as he left. Her smile fell. She wanted desperately to call him back, to call him Red or Desmond, she wanted for this to be a dream, so she could just **wake up**.

For it to all to be just a dream. But, it wasn't.

She was all alone now….

An hour or so later she was beating androids thoughtlessly into the hard concrete ground of the battle room.

A nicely placed punch left her hand tingling as the automated eyes dulled. She had punched it right in its power core that she found around the fourth fight. She grinned down at it; she was definitely feeling better now.

"Adrian—" called a voice from the doorway as another robot lunged at her, she twisted at a graceful angle and landed a hit to the side of its head as she ducked and weaved her way to the left side of it. Another hit had is sprawled on its back missing an arm and the lower half of its leg.

Red Arrow stood on the far side of the room typing into a computer as the humming noise that emitted from the robots slowed to a halt. He took a look around before bringing his eyes back up to her.

On the floor laid twelve broken machines; three were splayed at his feet.

"You look…better and…pissed." Adrianna fanned herself trying, in vain, to cool her body down. She quirked an eyebrow at him, but didn't respond. She normally would have taken that as an insult but at that moment she was just too tired, and besides that he had taken large steps towards not being a complete and utter ass so she had been trying as well.

"You feel better now that you smashed the_ bad ol' _androids face in?" he joked. She shot him a look,_ Ah~ see **that** just opened up a can of snarky comments_. She snorted and gave a weak laugh. She was really in the mood for some witty banter _now_.

"Would you like for me smash your_ big ol' **ego** _in?" she asked sweetly, his glare was not missed but absently noted. He grumbled lowly in his throat, "Like you could…"

"Sure Red…" she nodded carelessly then paused, "Um wait a minute… what time is it? I thought the guys had a mission or something?" She stretched with her feet firmly planted on the floor as she bent backwards until her hands were touching it as well.

"They don't actually…Miss Martian and Superboy along with Robin and KF have school and Aqualad is overseeing something in Atlantis; they lef t about two hours ago... So that leaves Artemis, but I really don't care about what she's doing…" She scoffed but held back a jab about the blonde, "Red Tornado had business as well and I was still in the area." She twisted into a hand stand—careful not to agitate her bandaged hand—and gazed up at him as his gaze fell on her injury but Adrianna ignored it in favor of smirking up at him.

She shifted her position to stand up properly and turned to face him. She glanced back around the room with a blissful satisfaction before heading for the door. "Nothing better to do today then to babysit me?"

"…I just wanted to check on you," he follows without even looking back at the damage, "I also wanted to know if you wanted to go get breakfast seeing as Wally swung by before school and ate it all." Her content look soured at that. Of course leave it to Kid Mouth to eat her food. She sighed loudly at that and drooped her shoulders. "Oh! He _also_ wants to know if you'd like to hangout sometime this week. He was in a hurry, so I didn't really catch the rest of what he said."

She glanced at him sideways and paused, "um _yeah_ that'll happen…when pigs fly."

Red Arrow rolled his eyes and smirked, "Kid wanted me to ask you…I didn't have to ask. I **could** have just told him you said yes." He was joking, maybe, she huffed at that but smiled none the less.

"Nah, I'm good." Adrianna wasn't sure to which thing she was answering too but she was pretty sure Red Arrow took it as a no to both invations.

_I wonder how she's doing_…

She shook her head as they passed the threshold into the living room. There were still no leads to her mother being part of the Shadows. Adrianna was beginning to think that the other X's simply made it up so to distance themselves from her. She paused by the TV while the red clad hero continued to walk.

There on the news station conveniently stood her mother, alongside Lex Luthor, the slimiest man ever born.

"Adrianna?" she heard from the red hero who she shushed with a long wave of her arm. "My mom's on _TV_." She stated simply; hiking her leg up and over the back of the couch until she was stepping on the leather cushions. She dropped on her butt and landed with a large thump, hazel eyes glued to the screen the whole time.

The date on the screen showed September 22th Adrianna couldn't remember what day it was but she was pretty sure it was the day before. She pursued her lips and settled deeply into the surface. She wanted to watch this; She needed to watch this. Maybe it was because her mother once told her that she hated the way Lex Luthor-that she scoffed at-she scoffed at the way she saw her mother smile that big fake smile of hers. That had to be the fakest smile she had ever seen her mother plaster on her face.

Adrianna _hoped_ it hurt her face to smile like that.

"_Miss Williams would like to announce the news that they found some leads that her daughter is"—Bzztt._

"Hey!" She called out as the screen went black.

She whipped her head around to glare at the hero. She wanted to watch that!

She reached for the remote but didn't find it; Red Arrow was holding the item in his grip, face blank as ever. She honestly wasn't surprised he had done it, but she wanted to know why at least. Her mother was saying something pertaining to her! It didn't bother her; in fact she was kind of hoping to hear what she had to say.

The reasoning behind it was obvious: play the sad, slash helpless, slash compassionate, slash total bullshit, mother card and she gets more pity votes in the long run. Adrianna knew her mother better than anyone in the world…besides maybe her father.

Her mother had kept it vague what had happened to Adrianna, but she was pretty sure that the recent story was that she was kidnapped. At the time she had heard about it she had changed her name, and hair color to something darker and less noticeable than her brownish-red so it didn't bother her in the least. It was a perfect cover story, in her opinion.

She sighed when she realized that she might need some fresh air to cool down and some food in her stomach. She was depressed but she shouldn't starve herself.

"Hey Red…about earlier…" he looked at her warily but urged her to continue, "I know I said no…but can we go get something to eat? All that pounding made me hungry." Red Arrow nodded and tried to not focus on the tired look in her eyes.

"Sure I'll be back in a minute, I need to see something." His eyes traveled to the super computer in the corner, "Go wash up, change you dress like a construction worker."

"Takes one to know one…"

She left with an aggitated flip of her hair.

* * *

><p>Clad in some ripped jeans, a jean jacket and tank top Adrianna began to exit her room, tugging at her shoes and pulling her hair into a ponytail as she went. This would be the first time in a while that she ventured outside the hideout, it had been far too long and it felt good to get out and stretch her legs.<p>

Red Arrow was waiting in the kitchen portion of the base when she came through and he was still wearing his uniform.

"I hope we're not going out in public like that." She snorted disdainfully at him, "That's sure to draw _some_ type of attention." She paused, "And not the good kind either." He gave her a disdainful look but ignored the comment in favor of grabbing his quiver. Adrianna huffed as they both headed over to the teleportation pads.

She wanted some kind of comeback.

"I could just leave you here, by yourself, all alone in a big empty base." He paused thoughtfully, "_With rats_." Laughing nervously she sped up her steps glancing warily at the ground.

"Your attempts at making me scared are _cute_." She cast a look at a shadow in the corner, "_But_! Not good enough my dear hero, for my younger step-brother has a pet rat." He raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

"And how well did that go over for you?"

"_Not very well actually_…" she admitted, watching as he punched in the code.

**RECOGIZED: Adrianna Grey B-14, Speedy-B06. **

"_**Oh Come On**_!" she sniggered at the older teen as she dematerialized.

* * *

><p>How can they do that every time they come and go from the base? Better question, why would they let a machine play pinball with their molecules? These kids are crazy; she didn't want to even imagine taking that little trip through the device again.<p>

"Ugh" Adrianna moaned as she pulled herself into a doubled over standing position, the ground just wouldn't stay in one place and her knees felt as if they were about to give out, as she pushed open the phone booth door. She braced her arm against the grimy ally wall and heaved deep breaths.

"I see it's your first time going through the portal." She wanted to punch the smugness out of his voice but realized that it would be of no use her legs were shot. That _and_ she it may have to do with the fact that she was seeing three of him at the moment.

"_Ugh…your mom…jerk_." Even his _laugh_ made her sick and she tried to drown it out by placing both hands on her head and smashing her ears closed. The world was trying to _kill_ her she knows it.

"It gets better, trust me." She rolls her eyes at him and straightens her stance but finds that even that is hard to do while trying to figure out which way was up.

"Don't be surprised if I can't trust you at the moment," A heavy round thing was held a few feet away from her and she grabbed it once the nausea eased slightly. "I never want to hear that word again…" her bitter reply seemed to shut him up for he didn't comment on it.

"We're taking my bike." She grasped the helmet tighter and nodded absently while she slipped her head into the deep red helmet. _Try to be positive, try to be nice_, a voice called out in her head.

"A motorcycle?" she beamed as she focused on the dark red ride, it _was _rather impressive. "I'm impressed Red." She ran her slim hands over the sleek red metal, and shined the top of the windshield that had a smudge on it with her jacket sleeve. It really was a beautiful machine. "I thought it would be a moped _or something totally gay like that_."

"Oh _hardy har har_ I bet that gets you many laughs with your bud—" an awkward pause "sorry."

She waved it off but the reply still stung, "Its fine, any who how bout we get on this bad boy, and rev it up?" she waited until he straddled the seat before she did the same moving out of experience.

"Oh~" she sighed blissfully, leaning into the hero "Yep it's official," She hummed, "I've missed this." Red Arrow chuckles before telling her to hold on and they took off down the street towards the upper part of the city.

After a few minutes Adrianna started to lean back so she could take a good look at the buildings they passed, but after a split second she had to try and hold on tight because Red took a hard turn. They leaned so close to the road she almost feared that they would fall but after he righted himself on the bike she let out an esthetic whoop of enjoyment. Her hair whipped behind her like a flag and she felt air hitting her body for the first time in a long time. It was almost as awesome as riding on her own bike, if she was being honest.

She sighed sadly at the thought of her bike and leaned back into Red Arrow's shoulder, she wasn't in the mood to deal with sad thoughts. _Just enjoy yourself_, she thought, _focus on the here and now._

She closed her eyes. Focus on the here and now.

_Easy enough_.

After an hour of riding around town Adrianna began to get antsy. She really wanted to move and she didn't like how every time she tried to move or lean Red Arrow would take a turn or speed up causing her to hold on tighter. It was frustrating, now she wanted to be driving, that way she could show off some of her moves.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought that she heard a voice telling her to tip the bike backwards.

She remembers when she popped her first wheelie it was the biggest wheelie she had ever done on it and she had almost tipped her front tire too much, but she had corrected herself along the way. That brought back the fond memory of getting yelled at by Jason for being too reckless; not that she cared at the time.

At the time she just wanted the thrill. The heart wrenching feeling of tipping too far back and knowing she could die at any moment. She wanted her thrill back.

She wanted it so badly.

But this will have to do for now.

**Well that took forever…hope you guys enjoyed this one. It's 11 pages so you better love me or something okay?**

**Also no new episode until New Years? What the FECK!**


	7. Sooooooooo

Soooooooo...how ya'll doing? Um...just want to say that I decided to rewrite the story and that the name is Follow the X...um...wow this is kinda awkward. I hope I didn't get your hopes up. Sorry?

Special thanks to Spazmatazz53 for the review that got me to rewrite. You seriously got to me (man? girl?...person~) Anyway I love you all and I hope that you'll take the time to enjoy the other piece. I've been wanting to rewrite it anyways since the one I have written down in my journal is _**completely**_ different.

So I'll see you around? Or maybe not...I dunno I just hope you like it, you guys make me a better writer, _**really, **_I thank each and every one of you for your support.

Now that I'm done rambling I'll let you get back on with your lives...okay? Thanks *heart*

I'm so sleep deprived…


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